**UPDATE BELOW**

 Todd S. Purdum has really outdone himself.

The Vanity Fair national editor most recently known for publishing a withering criticism of the Clintons during the 2008 presidential race has chosen a new target for summary destruction: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

This is no mere attack on the Governor’s policy positions, nor on her performance during the 2008 campaign – nor even on her performance since.  Purdum, in this article, plies his very best Luca Brazzi impression – hopelessly pathetic, yet reliably purposeful in ‘whacking’ the opposition.

In spinning his yarn, Purdum goes well below the belt:

Bill Clinton's hysterical response to Todd S. Purdum's Vanity Fair exposé hit a fevered pitch on the campaign trail Monday when the former president called the author "sleazy," "dishonest," "slimy," and a "scumbag"

Even better, he blamed the whole article on "the national media's attempt to nail Hillary for Obama."

This followed a statement revealed by FoxNews.com Sunday from the Office of the former president claiming the Vanity Fair piece to be "journalism of personal destruction at its worst," as previously reported by NewsBusters' Tim Graham.

Clearly, Clinton hadn't cooled off by Monday, for at a campaign stop for his wife in Milbank, South Dakota, the former president went on a bit of a tirade after being asked about the Vanity Fair piece by the Huffington Post's Mayhill Fowler (must-hear audio available here, emphasis added throughout, picture courtesy Huffington Post):